"Munch munch munch!"
If there was one spirit in all of [Nightmare Space] who was having the time of its life, it was undeniably [Shuckle].
Since the day it was born, [Shuckle] had never once imagined it would ever know the joy of racing through the air like a gale. Now that the wish had finally come true, of course it was careening around in a frenzy of pure delight.
Gatomon, on the other hand — ordinarily so swift and agile — was floundering as though mired in quicksand, and kept frowning in frustration.
Of the three effects that made up [Nightmare Space], the one drawn from the Trick Space was by far the most dramatic. The other two — swapping positions and conjuring illusions — both required Drifblim to activate them deliberately. The illusion effect in particular demanded an enormous outlay of mana and concentration. That it had managed to materialize such a convincingly lifelike magical girl in so short a time was already a remarkable feat.
While every Magic Guide Spirit was distracted by [Nightmare Space], the magical girl conjured by Drifblim lunged straight at Dark.
Dark neither dodged nor stepped aside. He simply opened his arms — and sure enough, he caught Drifblim's true body.
"In the end, it's only an illusion."
A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. He was thoroughly satisfied with Drifblim's [Nightmare Space].
...
But from activation to dissolution, [Nightmare Space] lasted only a brief three minutes before it collapsed from lack of mana to sustain it. The dormitory snapped back to normal.
[Shuckle], yanked abruptly back to reality, was crestfallen — but then it turned and looked at Drifblim, and a fire slowly kindled in its eyes.
"Munch!"
...
With the illusion gone, the scene of Drifblim nestled snugly in Dark's arms was laid bare for all to see. Less than a heartbeat later, two ribbon-like tendrils came shooting through the air — only to screech to a halt inches away, hanging suspended mid-flight.
Sylveon, having just barely restrained herself from acting on her worst impulses, sauntered over as if nothing whatsoever had happened. Dark freed one hand to scratch her under the chin, and she let out a soft, pudgy little cry.
...
As the atmosphere in Room 201 of the Noble House tower slowly warmed, something altogether different was unfolding in Professor Medea's private quarters.
"Lia."
She had placed the thirteen-centimeter glass vial on her desk some time ago. Now she sat before it, scrutinizing the soul suspended inside with a deeply furrowed brow.
From the moment Dark had unscrewed the cap on the soul powder, the tiny infant-like soul within the vial had quietly opened its eyes. There was no awareness in its gaze yet — but it was unmistakably a sign that its consciousness was beginning to stir.
This was entirely outside "Lia's" expectations.
Before Vlad's death, she had secured a fragment of his soul and used it to craft a cultivation vessel — something akin to a lich's phylactery. The idea was that the moment Vlad's main body perished, his consciousness would instantaneously transfer into this soul fragment. Then, with careful nurturing over time, a complete vampire soul could be gradually cultivated.
After that, she naturally had her own plans for it.
But if Vlad's consciousness recovered before the soul was fully formed, it would throw a wrench into her plans. Because what she needed was Vlad — and yet, not quite Vlad.
Tonight, however, complication after complication had arisen. As time passed, Vlad's soul grew increasingly agitated. And the moment Drifblim was transmuted into being, the reaction spiked to its most violent peak yet.
"Lia" had half-expected Vlad's soul to wake up on the spot.
Fortunately, the worst-case scenario did not come to pass. After that moment, Vlad's soul quieted somewhat.
But "Lia" could distinctly feel that something had vanished alongside that silence — something she couldn't quite name. The feeling left her in a very poor mood. And yet there was nothing she could do about it.
...
Medea Bartholomew had burrowed into her blankets with a book, pretending to know nothing at all about "Lia's" affairs. And truthfully, she didn't know very much.
Nor had she made any attempt to find out.
Her second encounter with "Lia" had come on the road to St. Marian's Academy. Believing that "Lia" posed no threat to the school, and knowing she had a legitimate reason to enter, Medea had agreed to her request and brought her inside. For Medea, it was a small thing — barely any trouble at all. But it was a way of repaying a debt from her youth, when "Lia" had once saved her life.
In the time since entering the Academy, "Lia" had indeed kept a low profile — even sitting through lessons tucked inside Medea's hat, without incident, all the way until…
"Hm. When exactly did things start to go sideways?"
As a seasoned astrologer, Medea had a heightened sensitivity to the way certain events unfolded. Even without resorting to prophecy, she could feel it in a general sort of way.
Things were slipping beyond her control.
And yet, in the very moment she sensed it…
Should she sit back and let events ferment on their own?
Or step in and stir the pot?
Heheh…
A good prophet, after all, is one who wouldn't mind watching the world burn a little.
...
Above, the night sky remained as it always was. The bonds between people blazed as brilliant stars, flickering quietly in the dark.
...
Once Drifblim had devolved back into Drifloon, Dark temporarily returned it to its Magic Guide Card. He then made a detailed record of the experiment's results, and spent the remaining time of the evening crafting armaments for his Magic Guide Spirits.
Naturally, before going to sleep, he did not forget to draw the day's allotment of [Major Sin]. Combined with the Soul-Sucker Spell and [Nether God Art], it came out to 1.5 points as usual. He chose [Greed], intending to refine [Greed III] first. But his available stock of [Greed] was running thin — he might need to temporarily switch to drawing [Pride] for a while and then find some way to replenish [Greed] later.
Unlike [Lust] and [Gluttony], though, efficiently increasing [Greed] was proving to be a real puzzle for him.
...
The night deepened. Room 201 of the Noble House tower fell into quiet stillness.
Dark drifted off to sleep, his thoughts still churning.
The Magic Guide Spirits, each following their own particular instincts, climbed up onto whichever bed they fancied.
"Tick!"
The hand of the clock passed midnight.
The card pack sitting on the desk gave a sudden tremble. Then its flap was slowly, incrementally pushed open from within. A Magic Guide Card eased its way out, then drifted softly down onto the desktop.
A dark moss-green Magic Guide Spirit rose slowly through the surface of the card, its large red-irised eyes rolling round and round, casing the quiet dormitory with all the furtive wariness of a cat sneaking off for a midnight snack.
Gatomon, curled up inside Dark's blankets, cracked one eye open — gave the intruder a single long look — and closed it again. A pink tendril flopped back down limply.
"Yomi—"
The adorable little Drifloon wriggled through the air, the Fear Gems around its neck glowing faintly.
...
Dark Demon dreamed that he was being "devoured."
...
Having gleefully feasted on its master's dream, the little Drifloon turned its attention to the other Magic Guide Spirits in the dormitory. But it quickly discovered that every single one of them was in that half-asleep, half-awake state where a single touch would rouse them — and it couldn't help but pout.
With no suitable targets left, Drifloon drifted aimlessly around the room for a bit, but ultimately didn't venture beyond this place where it had been born to explore the unfamiliar world outside.
In the end, it flopped down face-first onto Dark's cheek, and drowsily let its eyes fall shut. As its mana naturally ran dry, it slipped back into the Magic Guide Card on its own.
And so, when Dark woke the next morning, he found Drifloon's Magic Guide Card sitting all alone on the desktop, with the card pack toppled over on its side nearby.
Dark: "..."
After a moment, he picked up the card, traced a hexagram mana-restoration circle with his finger, and slowly refilled its depleted reserves.
"In the name of Dark Demon — Magic Guide Summon!"
With a soft incantation, the drowsy Drifloon was summoned forth from the card.
It had absolutely no idea what kind of terrifying judgment was waiting for it.
...
"Yomi!"
The Drifloon, subjected to a thorough squishing and squeezing, woke up screaming — and then continued to be squished and squeezed.
A few minutes later, Dark had pieced together the full picture: Drifloon had indeed snuck out of the Magic Guide Card on its own and eaten his dream. But when he asked what exactly he had dreamed about, Drifloon drooled all over itself and shook its head frantically.
Which only made him more curious.
Drifloon then immediately launched into full shameless-cuteness mode — nuzzling him relentlessly, rubbing up against him with everything it had — and gradually wore down his determination to get to the bottom of it.
As for the question of how Drifloon had managed to wriggle out of the Magic Guide Card on its own — Dark asked seriously, and Drifloon answered seriously, and in the end he came away with nothing useful whatsoever.
He had no choice but to go digging through his references. As it happened, the relevant information turned up in that volume: "Psychic Mage Red's Summoning Lecture Series — The Difference Between Magic Guide Spirit Summoning and Other Forms of Magic Summoning."
...
How could a Magic Guide Spirit exit its card under its own power?
A Mage had once conducted dedicated research on precisely this question. The conclusion reached was as follows: unless a spirit possessed an intelligence rating of 3.0 or higher, and had command of something akin to a Summoning-type skill — or alternatively possessed some innate ability to condense itself into physical form — it simply couldn't be done.
Intelligence was the prerequisite, because under normal circumstances a Magic Guide Spirit with an intelligence rating of only 2.0 wouldn't even develop the motivation to come out on its own.
If raw intelligence fell short, other means could compensate.
Such as — bonds.
Bonds, as a component of psychic force, carried enormous weight in Psychic Summoning. They could drive a Magic Guide Spirit to generate emotional responses beyond what its intelligence rating would normally allow — and from that, a spontaneous will to emerge from the card could arise.
Furthermore, a bond deep enough could trigger Psychic Summoning on its own, allowing a Magic Guide Spirit to draw on the power of the bond itself to pull itself free from the card.
A Magic Guide Spirit rushing to its master's aid without being summoned was, originally, one of the greatest selling points of Psychic Summoning.
"But have I actually formed a bond with Drifloon?"
Dark shook his head in doubt.
"If it has nothing to do with Psychic Summoning, then does it have some innate ability to condense into physical form?"
"Yomi?"
A mystery.
...
"Beep beep beep."
A sudden chime jolted Dark back to the present. He reached into his card pack and pulled out the vibrating Sorting Card, assuming it was a notice about a classroom change for today's dueling class — but the notification hadn't come from Professor Jones at all. It was from Professor Nini!
...
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